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Vegan Feta Cheese

Because it’s amazing, and because it’s too simple not to know by heart.

And because I am going to be using it in so many recipes in the very near future.

As you guys know, the kitchen over at the Graceful household is (almost) vegan.

One of the only things I let myself lament about this otherwise positive fact is the lack of cheese.

I am a cheese lover, and giving up dairy was far more difficult than meat or eggs. I miss the perfect breakfast of thick, tangy yogurt loaded with goodies, the ability of cream to take any pasta dish to the next level, the simple joy of salted butter spread over warm toast… And of course my all-time favorite food, the food Mr. Graceful had waiting for us on the beach where he proposed: Pizza.

I have a friend who practically goes crazy every time I tell him of a new “vegan cheese” or “vegan yogurt” recipe that I have… After he’s done flipping out, he tells me that if vegans miss those things so much, they shouldn’t be vegan. And if they don’t miss it, then they shouldn’t be constantly trying to imitate it.

I get his point, but…

But I did not banish animal products from my home because of a deep, burning hate of cheese. I just wanted to make sure my diet would be kinder to myself and to my surroundings.

So while I definitely enjoy the plant-based foods that nature has to offer when they are closest to their natural state, I still deeply miss some non-vegan foods.

Especially dairy.

Unfortunately, I have yet to meet a vegan cheese that can successfully sit atop a pizza, all melty and stretching (let me know if you guys have cracked the recipe for that… I will be eternally grateful).

However, this one definitely does a good job of delivering the things I miss about a good feta — slightly crumbly yet a little creamy, with the right balance of tang and saltiness.

I got the recipe from the uber-talented Debbie of Maple-Spice. Because I have been in an instant-gratification kind of mood lately (I blame the pregnancy out loud but deep down I know it’s not related), after a few times making it I decided to skip the step of straining it overnight by just using less liquid. The extra fermentation you may or may not be getting from letting the cheese hang out for a few hours isn’t missed, in my opinion.

I’ve used it in quiches and fillings for baked goods (I hope to get to those in my next posts), but the version I offer here is the simplest way one can enjoy it: Atop some crackers, or a piece of your favorite crusty sourdough…

Method:

Place all ingredients in the bowl of your food processor (except optional ingredients) and blitz the heck out of them until a thick paste is formed (about 4-6 minutes, depending on the strength of your machine). Stir in optional ingredients, if using.

Lay a large piece of plastic wrap on your working surface and lightly oil it.

Scrape the paste onto the center of the plastic wrap sheet.

Scoop up the edges of the plastic wrap around the mixture and tighten on top so that none can escape.

Holding the hunk of mixture by the excess plastic wrap on top, round the bottom with your other hand. Return it to you working surface, round part down, and gently flatten into a round disc.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and carefully place the “cheese” disc on it, smooth side up.

Bake for 15-25 minutes (depending on your oven), until the cheese wheel has dried on all sides and is slightly cracked and golden.

Could I respectfully suggest simply not loading so many pictures? There really is no reason for it to be so image heavy in the first place. Rather than making it the responsibility of your viewers to just find a way to cope, you could make an effort to be more accessible in the first place. A small handful of pictures–as in, two or three, max–is plenty. The sheer number you actually have is ridiculous, and serves no actual purpose, because, again, just two or three pictures, AT MOST, would be sufficient for people to see what the finished product is supposed to look like. Having as many posted as you do is nonsensical, to the point where it’s almost as if you WANT to make it difficult for people to view your page.

Hi Brenna, sorry again that you can’t view this post. When writing a publicly available recipe blog, it is certainly not my intention that people will not have access to it. I may consider making a different page for the “In-A-Nutshell” section, but I like the pictures I have put up here and I’m sure you can respect the fact that this blog is my hobby and culinary journal. Thanks for your input!

Rude? Why on earth is it rude? It is being helpful. If her intention is to communicate then feedback on what is hindering communication is being polite. They could have just ignored her blog and never come back and she would be none the wiser as to why she wasn’t getting as many views. But they took the time to give an explanation.

Personally I think they are right. I am looking forward to trying the recipe, but even on my PC I was getting fed up with photo/line of text/photo/line of text/photo… It was really hard to read and really frustrating. I understood what the feta looked like with the first couple of photos, job done.

Maybe put the recipe much nearer the top and then have a gallery underneath?

Brenna, are you on a dialup connection or something? Not only did this page load just fine on my phone, it loaded just fine on my computer at home. If she only posted two or three pictures, she couldn’t show all the steps of creating the cheese, nor the finished product.

Not only that, you’re being really rude for someone who is supposedly “respectfully suggesting” something.

Brenna – WOW – Why do the pictures make you so angry?
I loved the them – the more the better I say – I think they really add to the post and made my mouth water. My daughter has a food blog and she takes loads of photos and uses them in her posts – if someone replied to one of her articles with such spiteful and unnecessary vitriol I would be really annoyed at the petty small minded shrew that took the time to spout such hatred. You must be deeply unhappy to come out with such a diatribe.
If you really are that hard up that you can’t afford to download pictures on your phone, message me and I’ll send you a dollar. Otherwise maybe learn to use your phone rather than hating on this talented person’s blog – and set it to not download images automatically when you surf – on an iPhone it will be under “Cellular Data Useage”, you moron. Where do you live that data is so expensive? The Congo? Goodness me!!!

To “The Graceful Kitchen” – please keep posting loads of pictures with your recipes – you have a wonderful web site and as a recent vegan also missing feta cheese, this was a God send!!!! The more pictures the better 😀

Matt
I found it was your post that was nasty not Brenna, she made her point with out being rude and insulting and calling anyone hateful, a small minded shrew, hateful or a moron think you went a bit for I think it is after all a food blog.
In my opinion it was a good recipe and thanks for it, your blog so please yourself how many photos you use.
In a Nutshell section would be very thoughtful as some of us do not have access to high speed internet and do not live in the Congo, small town America can experience problems with download sped as well.
Sharon

Actually I found all the pictures really helpful. I hate when a recipe doesn’t have pictures, especially if you have to do physical things like shape the food and flip it onto trays etc. you don’t want to get that stuff wrong. Sometimes I read the step and I’m like ‘what the hell do they mean by that?’ and then I see the picture and I’m like ‘ahhhh got it!’.
If you haven’t got anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all, she’s just posted a really rad recipe, don’t be hateful 🙂
Love and light to you

Hi Lori, I don’t think it would keep for very long since the almonds, once mixed with the rest of the ingredients, are quite perishable. I’ve successfully kept it for two weeks in plastic wrap in the fridge, and by then it got eaten. Hope you try it!

Hi Cris, thanks so much for the positive feedback.
The feta would definitely not melt away, but it might lose some of its form. I have never cooked it by boiling before so I don’t know how that would alter its flavor/texture.
Whenever I bake it I add it pretty late in the process, just to brown it a bit, because it does dry out when baked for too long, but I don’t think that will be the case if you simmer it in grape leaves.
At any rate, this cheese doesn’t melt — this usually makes me sad (LOVE melted cheese) but I’m glad it can possibly be a feature to you and not a bug 🙂

Hi Christine, I use pre-ground almond meal made from blanched almonds (in some places this is called almond flour). You could make your own from blanched almonds by pulsing in a blender, then repeatedly sifting out and re-grinding larger chunks. Be sure to do this in short pulses and allow time for the mixture to cool between them so as to not end up with almond butter 😉 Thanks for stopping by!

Hi, you asked for the melty cheese recipe… here you go.http://www.onegreenplanet.org/vegan-recipe/how-to-make-fresh-vegan-moxarella-cheese/
We made it yesterday and it was REALLY good. We made very thin pies, don’t like thick pizza at all. Just make sure you roll the cheese blobs before putting them on the pizza and flatten them into small pancakes (because they can be weirdly shaped if you just spoon them on) and be careful with the cheese not burning too much – this cheese doesn’t melt as good as real mozzarella of course, but it does melt! so make it very flat before putting on top of the pizza. Good luck!

Thanks so much Vava! I actually tried out this recipe a few times for various cheezy purposes, and while it definitely adds a cheese-like note, it was always too runny to be able to roll out (and you’re right, the blobs were kind of awkward shaped when I spooned them on). Did you change anything? Or maybe it’s just the cooking time?
Also I’d love your crust recipe if you recommend it — I’m a sucker for thin crust 😉

This was AWESOME! I LOVED all the pictures(made it easy to follow plus I just love looking at how things are done). Curious why your “dough” looks white and mine was brown speckled. I used organic Almond meal from Trader Joes. Should I have used Almond flour? Haven’t tried it yet. It’s cooling from the oven. Myself and a couple friends are excited to try this. We have been searching for a vegan feta for a long time.
Many thanks!

Thanks for the awesome feedback Julie! If I remember correctly the Trader Joe’s almond meal is made from almonds with the skins, so that explains the brown speckles. Using almond flour (made from blanched almonds) yields a smoother consistency. But previous commenters have had success with the TJ’s almond meal — they equated the difference to the difference between white bread and whole wheat bread 🙂

I was salivating at the first picture, but having looked at a few vegan cheese recipes I was mentally preparing myself for a recipe that took a full afternoon of prep plus being left overnight. 27 MINUTES!! You’re some kind of cheese revolutionary!

I’ve made something similar (did not have filo dough on hand). It does not melt and actually loses some moisture in the baking process, so what I do now when I want to bake with it is make it with a bit more water to begin with. It works well. Good luck!

Hello, first time reader of your blog.
A person who has eliminated all meats except the 2 or 3 times a week fish, once a week 3 bites of chicken (when my husband doesn’t finish the special food I made for him and I’m still hungry…still don’t know how being 5’4″ petite I eat so much more than him!)…I try my hardest eating vegetarian without soy, but too much potato substitute actually made me gain weight…

So thank you for this. Healthier than the real thing and baked has just such a better look than wet cheese lol.

But as others said, I found it hard navigating through this, scrolling down so many mobile pages just to find the recipe so I can print it out and add it to my New Years’ resolution to loose weight and go vegan meal plan.
Thanks for the summary portion. Made it much easier to print just that part. Wish there was a “print friendly” link to a summary and 1 or 2 pics for those of us stringing along a meal plan.

I did make it with limes (quite a few times now) and it turned out perfectly 🙂 Lemons are harder to find here in the south of Brazil and if you do find them they are expensive. Limes, on the other hand, are everywhere. Thank you for the recipe!

Hi Debra, I hope you give it a shot 🙂 Rosemary sounds wonderful, but it is quite strong so make sure to use it in moderation. Oregano is a great idea too, as well as dried basil flakes. You also can try some fresh dill and garlic if that’s your thing!

I found a packet of ground almonds in the pantry and couldn’t think what to do with them (other than baking), but remembered seeing a blog post ages ago that mentioned vegan feta. So glad I made it, and will definitely make it again!

Hi, I tried this the other day and it was very disappointing. It turned out very dry and mealy. In reviewing the recipe and comments again I see I should’ve use almond flour which is quite different from what I used — almond meal. I wonder if that was the problem. ?? I also added chopped sun dried tomatoes, which added a strange flavor to the whole mealy thing. I’ll try it again but would love some feedback. Thanks!

Hi Andrea, sorry to hear you had a bad experience. What you’re looking for is almond flour or blanched almond meal. The coarseness of the meal matters less in this recipe, what is important is that it does not contain the brown almond skins, as they will indeed affect the texture. I have modified the recipe to clarify this. Thanks for giving it a try!

Lea, the longest I kept it before it got finished was 2 weeks, but I imagine it wouldn’t stay good for much longer because of the high water content. Keep it wrapped to prevent it from spoiling quickly.

My favorite vegan melty cheese. I love your recipe, and it’s my favorite vegan cheese so far. Thank you for your time and all the pictures. I make the mozzarella more tasty, by adding more of nooch, lemon, and garlic, but it’s good as it is also.

Was so happy to find this recipe as my daughter had some uni friends over for a study session and one didn’t eat meat or dairy, so I was looking for something interesting to serve the girls for lunch.
It was easy to make (except for the time taken to pop the almonds out of their skins before I made the almond flour). I added chopped rosemary to mine – delicious!
I teamed it with another recipe I wanted to try that called for feta………. Sweet Potato Toast……….
You use peeled and sliced (long ways) kumara/orange sweet potato as the ‘bread’ . You pop it in the toaster a few times until it looses it firmness and turns brown in parts then load it with whatever toppings you like.
To use your feta, I piled up smashed avocado, & crumbled feta then topped with toasted pepitas, salt & pepper and a squeeze of lemon juice.
Not only does it taste good but looks good with all the different colours!
Thanks for a great recipe. : )

Looks great, and I can’t wait to try this! Thank you for sharing. I just wish that the “nutshell” recipe was at the top before all the pictures. It takes too long to scroll through all the pictures, and most people are viewing from mobile devices these days with limited data plans. Someone commented that the solution is to get a better computer, but that’s the old way of thinking.

Found this recipe last week and you have saved my salads from utter and tasteless drudgery. I am following a very strict WOE so no dairy, no starch, gluten, fruit, a whole swack of veggies are on for me. I eat salad three times a day and your feta has rejuvenated my love for food! Thank you thank you! If you could figure out a starch free mozzarella I’d be ever so grateful! And your pix are slobberworthy! Pity you can’t delete those initial, unwarranted negative comments. But, this cheese is super good!